Vocational fees leave Saugus in dilemma

SAUGUS – Like a perennial weed, questions about the seemingly unfair portion of the town’s Northeast Regional Metropolitan Vocational School tuition have popped up again.Town Meeting voted to pay $950,000, the final portion of the tuition bill last week but meeting member Albert DiNardo is crying foul.Saugus pays approximately $14,000 per student in tuition costs to the regional vocational school while communities such as Revere and Chelsea enjoy significantly lower fees. Revere’s tuition costs rack up to $1.9 million which is close but they send 242 students to Saugus’ 145. Chelsea has an even sweeter deal, paying just more than $4,000 in tuition for 205 students.Peter Rossetti, who has sat on the vocational school’s School Committee for about 14 years, said the tuition formula dates back to 1993 and the Education Reform Act. It was then the formula was altered to give communities that at the time were considered poorer areas a break. While times and financial circumstances have changed since then the formula has not.DiNardo said he could understand the formula favoring Chelsea when the community was in receivership.”We all wanted to help,” he said. “But when does it end.”DiNardo pointed out that Chelsea and Revere now have new schools and still enjoy considerable less tuition costs while Saugus schools are crumbling.”We need to lobby the state delegation to investigate this formula,” he said.Rossetti said it is actually Winchester that pays the highest tuition rate but it only sends six students.”The formula is devised by the state where towns with higher levels of diversity do better,” he said. “We have talked about this question ever since I’ve been on the committee.”Rossetti agreed changing the tuition is a great idea, but not an easy one. He would in fact favor a flat per pupil rate that would be paid by each of the 12 communities that participate. That, however, is not likely to happen anytime soon.To change the formula, Rossetti said, the community would have to persuade a majority of the cities and towns to go along with the idea.”You’d need a super majority and an act of the legislature and you would have to rewrite Ed Reform,” he saidRossetti also defended the current formula.”It’s a good system, it still works,” he said. “Is if fair? Absolutely not.”DiNardo said he would like to see the town push to get the formula changed once and for all.”I feel like there is a lot of unfairness,” he said. “The argument should be made that this has gone on long enough. When does Saugus get theirs?